Janthina exigua
Encyclopedia
Janthina exigua, also known as the dwarf janthina, is a species
of small holoplanktonic
sea snail
, a marine
gastropod mollusk in the family Janthinidae
, the violet snails or purple storm snails.
It has been recorded from:
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of small holoplanktonic
Holoplankton
Holoplankton are organisms that are planktonic for their entire life cycle. Examples of holoplankton include some diatoms, radiolarians, some dinoflagellates, foraminifera, amphipods, krill, copepods, and salps.-Sources:Asexual Holoplankton:...
sea snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
, a marine
Marine (ocean)
Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...
gastropod mollusk in the family Janthinidae
Janthinidae
Janthinidae, common name the purple snails or violet snails, are a family of pelagic sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the informal group Ptenoglossa of the clade Hypsogastropoda....
, the violet snails or purple storm snails.
Distribution
This species is pelagic, and occurs around the world in tropical waters, in other words it is circumequatorial.It has been recorded from:
- The Atlantic
- British Isles
- European waters
- Madagascar
- Mascarene Basin
- Mediterranean Sea
- Mozambique
- The Pacific Ocean
- South Africa
- The West Coast of Ireland